Helping My Child with Handwriting and Presentation 2017
What's this Booklet About? At Cradoc we believe that good handwriting and neat presentation raises self-esteem and enables children to communicate clearly. An expectation of neat handwriting is just one of the ways in which Cradoc shows that it is setting high standards in general and of presentation in particular. The purpose of this booklet is to provide help and support to enable school and home to work together to help children learn to form their letters correctly, write fluently and present their work neatly. Inevitably some will be neater than others, but we want every child to be the best they can be. This booklet details why and how we teach handwriting at Cradoc Primary School, explains how the phonics rhymes learned at an early age help the children learn to form letters for writing and provides the building blocks for later spelling. It is essential that there is a consistent approach towards handwriting and the presentation of work between school and home. This consistency will help raise expectations and encourage the children's sense of pride in how their work should look. This booklet therefore also provides ideas on ways in which you can help to develop your child’s handwriting. We hope the booklet is helpful to parents and families and welcome any suggestions to make it even better. Contents What's this booklet about? 2 Why do we need to write ? 3 How Does the School Teach Handwriting? 3 Foundation Phase 3 Key Stage 2 4 Pencil/Pen Grip 4 Left Handed Children 4 Presentation 5 Where Should My Child Be? 5 What if my friend's child seems to be writing more neatly? 5 How can you help your child? 5 Ideas for developing Gross and Fine Motor Control 5 Ideas for Developing Handwriting At Home 6 How can you make writing seem a bit more attractive? 6 What If My Child Makes A Mistake 6 Praise, Praise, Praise 7 Useful websites 7 Appendix 1 - Letter formation rhymes from Read, Write Inc. 8 Appendix 2 – National Literacy and Numeracy Framework, inc copy of skills ladder 10 2
Why do we need to write ? Despite the development of ICT and computers, it is still vital that we teach children to write. It is an important life skill which underpins many activities. There are two main purposes for handwriting: 1. To make notes for ourselves 2. To pass information on to another party In both cases, it is important that someone can read what we have written! How Does the School Teach Handwriting? Handwriting tasks require different muscle groups to work together with the proper force, timing and actions to produce an acceptable outcome (ie legible handwriting). At Cradoc, in the very earliest years through the whole of their education, we include activities for the children to develop both gross and fine motor control. Fine motor skills are small movements — such as picking up small objects and holding a spoon and handwriting. They involve using the small muscles of the fingers, toes, wrists, lips, and tongue. Gross motor skills are the bigger movements — such as rolling over, sitting, riding a bike, gymnastics. They use the large muscles in the arms, legs, torso, and feet. Improving gross motor skills supports children to develop improved strength and posture, whilst improving fine motor control helps children to develop the ability to plan and execute detailed actions. Throughout their time at school, the children have opportunities to improve their gross and fine motor control through physical development, PE and sports, creative art and design, use of IT etc. Control is also encouraged through playtime activities, such as loose play, games and sports. "Formal" handwriting is taught: Foundation Phase • In Reception, motor skills are developed using a variety of different activities, including ‘Write Dance’ and “Dough Disco” and these continue to be practised throughout the Foundation Phase. Children also have access to a range of writing media and experiences throughout the areas of provision within their setting. They must be given the opportunity to practise with implements of different size, weight and type in order to develop the necessary skills. • In Reception and Year 1, handwriting is "formally" taught during the Read, Write Inc sessions and using the Read, Write Inc rhymes (see Appendix 1). They are sometimes supported with a "ground, grass, sky" grid to show them how to sit letters on the ground and let the tails dangle in the mud and to reach for the sky. Opportunities for writing are then provided across other areas of the curriculum and in the enhanced areas within the classroom and outdoors. Children are encouraged to write their first names correctly, using a capital letter for the first letter and lower case letters for the rest of their name. Children will write in pencil and adults will keep rubbers in the classroom to remove large mistakes to ensure good presentation of all work. • In Year 2, discrete handwriting sessions take place 3 times a week for between 5-10 minutes. Pupils will learn to use books with handwriting lines to ensure they develop appropriate size and spacing with letters sitting on the line. 3
• The similarity between the ground, grass, sky is made to help them make the link, which is then extended to link with the lines in their books and thus encourage them to use good handwriting in all of their work. • Joined handwriting is taught during class sessions when the pupil is ready for this progression. Key Stage 2 • Across the whole of Key Stage 2, handwriting is taught to whole class or groups, with the teacher demonstrating the formation of letters, joins and groups of letters. • All pupils will be expected to write in pen for all subjects, including maths, using pencil for drawings, label lines etc. • Handwriting sessions are normally taught 3 times a week for between 5-10 minutes. Additional targeted intervention groups take place for pupils needing further support throughout the year. Pencil/Pen Grip The way a child grips the pencil/pen will affect the quality, speed and flow of their handwriting and it is very important that every child is able to write neatly and legibly. It is important that children hold their pencil correctly and ensure their posture is correct. The most appropriate grip is the ‘tripod grip’ which allows both control and fluid movement. ➢ Pencil held between finger and thumb. Middle finger provides extra support ➢ The hand should be holding the pencil at an angle of about 60 degrees ➢ The pen or pencil should be held about one to three centimetres from the writing tip, so that there is control over its movement ➢ The grip should be relaxed, without pressing too hard on the page ➢ The child should be sitting upright, not hunched over paper, with their feet flat on the floor ➢ Head up, not resting on the desk or hand ➢ Paper is tilted in an anti-clockwise direction, with the left hand steadying the paper Left Handed Children Young children may not favour one hand over the other; however, when they do settle on their right or left hand it is important to be able to support left handed children appropriately. The following guidelines may be useful: ➢ The child will need space to his / her left as he / she writes 4
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